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Preemies
when to stop pumping or bfing
So I am wondering how you decided to stop pumping or breastfeeding your lo. I feel awful about it but nursing just didn't work out for us and I have been EPing. I have about 2 months worth of milk in the freezer yet and I am trying to decide when to stop pumping and just use that milk up. Pumping is just starting to get really old and with the holidays coming up I really want to just enjoy myself and my family and not have to worry about disappearing every few hours to go pump- not to mention dragging my pump stuff with to everyone's house we go to. I just feel like that is such a selfish reason to be done. Not to mention that I am starting to get more and more exhausted and that time would be really nice to have back each day instead of spending it pumping all the time.
If I do stop pumping and gave DS some bottles of frozen milk and some bottles of formula each day to stretch the milk out longer would he have the benefits of the milk longer or doesn't it work that way? I want to make sure he keeps getting my immunities as long as possible.
Also, maybe I just need encouragement to keep going. It is also made harder by the fact that I have a 2 1/2 year old also to take care of and it never fails that he needs something from me while I am pumping.
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Re: when to stop pumping or bfing
No one can really give an answer for this. I EP-ed for 6 weeks until a breast abscess required surgery and I was on serious narcotics and heavy antibiotics. You've done a lot for your LO already and I don't think anyone can fault you for the amount of time and energy you put into doing what you feel is best for them. I have a lot of friends who are staunch BF-ers who have said openly they never would have gone through what I went through to give my DD the little breastmilk I had.
Other people may say otherwise (again, personal decision) but I think if you're not happy then your energy could be better spent being a mom to your kids. I would rather a FF infant who is happy with their food and has a happy mom than a BF infant with a mom who is at her wits end with the whole pumping ordeal!
Quick note: with the holidays coming up I would pump until the holidays and then exclusively give breastmilk. Just my thought that with a lot going on and new situations, people, experiences, etc. that you don't want to throw new food into the mix. I would wait to transition slowly to formula (if your LO isn't already being supplemented) until after the holidays settle down and their routine is back to normal.
Completely agree with PP that only you know what's best for your family and your LO.
My only suggestion would be to start trying a little formula before you stop just to be sure he tolerates it. My Evan didn't handle any formulas and had a huge problem with vomiting. He vomiting on BM too, but it was the least bad. I had a serious fear of losing my supply because I didn't know what I would feed him if I did. So I ended up pumping for 17months. That was our situation, and what was best for us. I know our situation isn't very common, but it still pushes me to suggest just trying out the formula before your supply is gone.
In the end we found a formula that he did tolerate better than my BM, pregestimil, and if I'd have found that sooner, I would have stopped sooner. I can't imagine doing the pumping bit with a 2 1/2 yr old too. Evan is our first and only. Pumping definitely sucks (no pun intended).
You are doing better than I did. I pumped for his first month of life. And then I was going crazy. Since I was going back to work after my maternity leave, I put him on Neosure. And then a couple of weeks later he was able to latch so I could breastfeed him as more of a comforting thing or just to see if he was really hungry. It has been one to two months since he has completely stopped breastfeeding.
And we are transitioning his Similac Neosure to Similac Advanced at this point. The WIC nutritionist told me for 4oz of water, I should do one scoop of Similac Advanced and one scoop of Similac Neosure.
I will say that putting my baby on Neosure did make my life easier. My husband and other caretakers (grandma, grandpa, daycare, part-time nanny,etc.) could help out more with bottlefeeding.
As a mother, you just have to make the best decision for yourself.
My plan was to stop when I went back to work, but I just couldn't do it. I was so afraid he'd get sick!
So i made a new plan.
Every time I was ready to quit, I dropped a pumping session. When I went back to work I dropped from 7 to 4 sessions a day. Then a few months later, I dropped to 3. A few months later 2, and by 14 months old, I dropped to 1 for the last month. Finally, I quit at 15 months old!
I never would have dreamed I would have made it that long. Every time I dropped a pump I felt like I gained 3 hours a day. It helped me to keep going. And I had enough supply that he was able to get exclusive BM for a full 15 months, although I was okay with and prepared to supplmenet with formula if I ran low.
I hope this helps. My advice is to do what you can, remember every bit helps, but if it's costing your sanity, then cut back.
Hugs!
It gets so much easier-- if you are looking for encouragement then I say with conviction that you can do this! I almost stopped at 6 weeks...everyone thought my life was crazy and so was I. They were right, but we knew it was the right decision for our family. I never dreamed I would make it a year, nor that I would fill two deep freezers and keep DD on my milk until 18.5 months! Now pumping is such a distant memory I can't believe I've only been done for 8 months. I dropped to 7 pumps/day at 5 months, 6 pumps/day at 7 months, and down from there. My friends called me "militant", I knew I was doing the right thing. Sure, I pumped everywhere and anywhere and in front of anyone- it was no worse than NIP in that I didn't feel the need to make excuses ever. But I do agree with PP on the formula-trying if you're going to stop as well-- DD had a serious dairy-sensitivity and never would have lasted on formula.
This is a great article, recently published in the NYT, showing that while scientists were previously baffled by a large portion of BM being undigestable by infants, they now understand that it builds the gut flora of an infant, i.e. where we now know the immune system stems from. So it's not just the antibodies that you pass to your LO (who, as a preemie, obviously has benefitted greatly from the ones you've already given him!), but it literally builds the human immune system. AMAZING. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/science/03milk.html
First of all, congrats for making it this far! And it is awesome that you have so much milk stored already!
DD refused to nurse, so I EP'd until she was 8 months. I finally decided to stop when the time I spent pumping was taking away from time she really needed my attention. Hope that's helpful!
I have wanted to quit so many times, but like you, always felt like my reasons were selfish so I couldn't do it.
I am now only pumping three times a day, and that works. I had quite a freezer stash, which will actually run out this week. But I'm still going at it and will just give formula a couple times a day once I'm not able to give only breast milk.
Whatever you're able to do is great, and if stopping is what makes you happy then it's your right to make that decision. Like the other girls said, you need to be a happy mommy!